An aquatic bird with a long bill and a stretchy pouch beneath it.
The pouch under its bill scoops up fish. As the bird raises its head, the pouch contracts and pushes the water out.
On Dassen Island, South Africa, great white pelicans hunt seabird chicks on land. They search among rocks and bushes and swallow captured chicks whole.
A study published in 2010 reported observations made from 23 October to 15 December 2006. Researchers watched from a lighthouse using binoculars and a telescope for a total of 130 hours over seven weeks. They directly observed predation on gull and cormorant chicks, including 159 gull chicks.
Hunting-group size changed during events. Some birds lagged behind to preen or rest; groups sometimes split to follow chicks in different places and then reunited. At cormorant colonies, pelicans landed nearby and watched. They seized opportunities when a parent shifted or a chick emerged to beg for food.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
BirdLife South Africa’s 2025 regional assessment identifies disturbance at breeding colonies, water-level and salinity fluctuations, pollution, and collisions with power lines and wind-energy infrastructure as conservation concerns. Dassen Island and Lake St Lucia have protected status, with monitoring of numbers and breeding activity continuing. Proposed measures include identifying and safeguarding important feeding and roosting sites, improving water-abstraction management and reducing collision risks.